It looked good on paper.
Letters recovered from the safe "acquired" for Dirk Cairo's now-destroyed warehouse provided evidence of a chilling plan, a plot to blanket the capital cities of England, France and Germany in the dread Red Sands poison, thereby fomenting chaos in the form of an uncontrollable outbreak of the Red Sands plague that would fill the streets with maddened, infected lunatics, each a centre for further infection.
This was a plan designed to bring down the three great powers of Earth, and possibly the entire planet over time. The implications were astounding and profoundly disturbing.
The grand design appeared to be an attempt to strip Mars of its British and German troops, which would be needed on Earth once the standing forces had been exposed to Red Sands. By the time they got home, home would no longer exist.
Naturally, once the information had been digested and a picture of the intent synthesized, the team contacted the Explorer's Club via telegraph, using the talents of an impressionable young telegrapher named Dick, suitably reimbursed and impressed by the legendary Waldmont as to the need for anonymity and confidentiality. Once the Explorer's Club had time to digest the message, Waldmont brought his influence to bear and was soon in touch with Chief Inspector Smythe, who not only took the threat seriously but communicated his concern to his counterparts in Paris and Bonn. If there were any truth in these allegations, the forces of Law and Order would root out those responsible and bring them to justice.
Now the adventurers turned their attention to the goings on at the Cairo Ranch. They believed that there they would find an example of the cryptic "Kross Distribution Device" mentioned in the letters, and so a plan was hatched to infiltrate the ranch using hired guns as backup. A preliminary recce of the property revealed that there were a large number of guards, a handful of mystrious figures dressed in black clothing, "Dead-Eye" Pete Blackwell (a notorious bully) and a strange man with a German accent and woman working in the kitchen of the Ranch House.
The team surmised that the German man was Hans Kross and the woman was his Daughter, possibly the method by which Cairo was abe to compell Kross to work for him, and began hatching a new plan to rescue the girl and her father. This plan was formed up after overhearing a conversation in which it was obvious that one of them had been attacked by the cook, and that she was being held against her will.
The ranch compound consisted of the Ranch House to the North, facing south, a large barn to the East, and a long Bunkhouse to the West, forming an open courtyard, open to the South.
The team would arrange themselves around the ranch at dusk, armed with rifles, to suport Copperfield in his stealthy infiltration of the ranch. Copperfield wuld enter the Ranch House and rescue the woman. If he experienced troube he would signal either by shining a lantern at a window, or by initiating gunfire. At this signal, Rev. Fogg and a hired hand would push a wagon loaded with flammables and explosives into the corner of the bunkhouse in which the guards slept and lived while on site, using this as a distraction to draw off guards.
Copperfield entered the house from the rear and made his way carefully through the house. Once inside he could clearly hear two distinct conversations: A pair of men, one with a German accent to the West, and a man and woman to the East, the end of the house containing the kitchen. Copperfield decided to investigate the voices to the west, and improvised a bold plan. He knocked on the door behind which he could hear the voices and pretended to be a confused member of the Ranch's staff. This served ony to enrage the German man who ordered the other to deal with the situation. That worthy ripped open the door and came face to face with Copperfield.
Copperfield abandoned his obfuscation and drew his pistol, but the man opposite him was quick and backed away, drawing his own weapon as Copperfield shot - and missed. There followed a rapid exchange of close-range pistol fire that was largely ineffective. Copperfield wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valour and broke off to retreat through the back door.
Unfortunately, a number of guards were alerted and intercepted his escape with volleys of gunfire that was terribly effective, wounding him twice as he blundered into and past Captain Forsyth, who was unfortunately at that very moment come down from his overwatch position and about to enter the house.
A guard burst out of the doorway and turned right to see Copperfield staggering away, and attempted a close range rifle shot that missed. He did not see Captain Forsyth to his left, who shot him at close range, doing no damage but knocking him prone. From which position that worthy fired, doing severe damage to Forsth, who reeled off to the West to gain cover from this mad sharpshooter. Copperfield ran for the cover of the East corner of the Ranch House.
Simultaneously, Reverend Fogg piloted his burning wagon into the southwest corner of the bunkhouse with the aid of a hired hand, using the resulting conflagration as a diversion. To this end he ran into the courtyard yelling for help and some of the guards now pouring out of the bunkhouse did indeeed race to help Fogg, who was raving in a most realistic fashion about his daughter being on the blazing wagon. The hired hand meanwhile had raced Northward along the bunkhouse wall to give whatever aide he could to those in the Ranch House, and as the guards approached the blazing wagon to rescue Rev. Fogg's non-existent daughter the dynamite exploded and although the blast missed them, each was pounded by flying bricks from the chimney and shaken. Fogg raced for the Ranch House.
It was at this moment that Waldmont, heretofore ensconced in cover out in the middle distance to the South of the courtyard with half a dozen hired hands to act as sharpshooters, decided that he would be better employed in closer contact with the enemy and had his team run into the courtyard.
All along a minor drama was playing out in the kitchen, where Lana Kross (Doctor Kross' wife) had used the distraction of the attack to launch her own assault on her guard with a skillet, to good effect eventually. Dr Kross, on the other hand, was happy to seek out ever more secure places in the barn. No hero, he.
Copperfield found cover and went to ground, wounded as he was. Captain Forsyth made his way to the front of the house where he attempted shots at the mysterious shadowy figure stalking him along the front wall of the Ranch House. Waldmont halted to give fire and ordered a hired hand to aide Forsyth. Reverend Fogg Burst into the house and ran straight for the obese German who was loudly shouting demands that the guards kill "the English scum". Fogg burst past the astounded guards and attempted a grapple on the German, who shrugged off this attack, ordered the guards to lower their weapons and challenged Fogg to a bare-knuckle boxing match there and then.
It was around this point that Waldmont was shot by a guard from the barn, and critically wounded, falling to the ground like a sack of King Edwards. In short order the Hired Hands, who had been about to decide whether to cut and run, were gunned down, as was the Hired Hand sent to help Forsyth.
Forsyth looked on helplessly as Waldmont, far out of reach and enfiladed by guards, gave a shudder and succumbed to his wounds.
Reverend Fogg exchanged a few spirited blows with the German but knew almost immediately he was outmatched, so he took an opportunity to leap our of the door and run for cover.
Captain Forsythe and his one remaining Hired Hand found a Bunkhouse window and attempted to ambush Dead-Eye Pete, who had made his appearance at the Bunkhouse door. The gunfire on both sides was inconclusive, so Forsyth and the Hired Hand ran for cover. Unfortunately, Dead-Eye Pete was able to shoot the Hired Hand as they fled. Fortunately, he could not shoot Forsyth, who was in very bad shape as it was, and holding himself together by sheer willpower.
The operation was over, and none of the objectives had been achieved.
Clear Credit: Map of the Cairo Ranch from page 115 of the Space 1889:Red Sands setting book published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Map reproduced in part to illustrate narrative. No challenge of copyright is intended. I do not have clear attribution for the art itself, the book citing Interior art by: Richard Clark, Christophe Swal Cartography by: Jordan Peacock. If the responsible artist will contact me I will attribute properly.
